Bus Beat Published by and for the Employees of the Hamilton Street Railway

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PUBLISHED BY AND FOR THE EMPLOYEES OF THE HAMILTON STREET RAILWAY COMPANY VOL 10 © MARCH, 1994

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Survey Targets Customers
on the King, Barton and
Beeline Routes

In an on-going effort to improve the quality of the service we deliver to our
customers, an extensive customer survey on the King, Barton, and Beeline
routes has been undertaken. A follow-up survey is planned later in the
Spring.

Continued page 5 - See Service Quality
Cover: Operator Sareen Jagjit and Acting Inspector Andy Folkstra talk
with customers on the King route. In February, Andy was hand-delivering
customer survey forms to HSR passengers on the King, Barton and Beeline
routes. "I've been talking to the drivers and the public," says Andy, “and
they feel the company is listening to them. We're all looking forward to
the results of the program."

BUS BEAT

is produced by the
Customer Services
Division of the Hamilton
Street Railway Company
330 Wentworth St. North
Hamilton, Ontario

L8L 5W2

(905) 528 4200

Editorial opinions
expressed are not
necessarily those of
the department.

Please forward all
submissions to one of
the following Bus Beat
representatives:

Christine Bishop,
editor, ext: 420

Keith Andrews 267

Christine Fruck B22

Edy Graziani 251
Rabin Daljeet 276
Gord Heidman 251

Rosanna Melatti yp ip
Carole Morris-McHugh

426
Rick Toni 984
Steve Walsh 284
Submission deadline for
the next issue is
\pril (1) 1994
OT

Recycled Paper

To Your
Health

Mary Beth Beasley
Kmployee Health Centre

WINTER ITCH

FROM A YEAR of HEALTHY HINTS
Don R. Powell, Ph.D.

Oh that winter itch! Your skin feels as rough and
dry as sandpaper. If your skin is chapped,
cracked, and inflamed during the coldest month
of the year, take heart. Relief is a simple matter
of water conservation.

The basic problem is lack of moisture. Anything
that steals moisture from the skin will result in
dryness and chapping. The drier the air the more
rapidly moisture evaporates; in winter, heated
indoor air tends to be dry. Also, soap and
excessive bathing or showering strips the skin of
its natural oils, compounding the problems. The
dehydrated cells begin to shrink and separate
leaving a network of painful cracks on your skin.
Dry skin affects everyone, but older people have
it worse, as oil production gradually declines
with age.

Since you can't change the weather or your age,
try these suggestions if you want to prevent
winter itch:

¢ avoid bathing or showering more than once a
day ¢ alternate bath or shower days with
sponge bath * use mild soap and lather as little
as possible; select a moisturizing soap instead of
a deodorant one ¢ don't apply soap directly
to the skin - soap up a washcloth instead * add
a bath oil to bathwater * pat your skin dry
with a towel instead of rubbing it dry and apply
moisturizer immediately * apply lubricating
skin cream or lotion several times a day to
affected areas - petroleum based creams work
well ¢ avoid immersing your hands into hot
water and strong dishwashing detergent - wear
rubber gloves e lower the setting on your
heating thermostat so you're comfortable but
not toasty ¢ use a humidifier to add moisture
to the air, or have one connected to the furnace

Use-It-Lose-It-Users
Happy with EHC's
Fitness Program

By the time this issue goes to print, EHC's "Use It
or Lose It" participants will have reached the end
of their six-week fitness program. Congratula-
tions to all who ‘hung in’. If you have questions
about the fitness and exercise program, call
Mary Beth at ext. 264. Apparently several em-
ployees, who missed out on the program, have
asked about setting up another session - so stay
tuned.

What are some of the Use-it-or-Lose-it partici-
pants saying about the program?:

Cindy Day, Marketing/Customer Services
"Information package well put together - outlines
various aspects of exercise and nutrition."

Larry Griffiths, Ticket Office:
"The exercise almost killed me but I enjoy it." ¢

Sue Irwin, Operations:
"So far, so good. I think it's a good program and
very informative."

Bob Sheldrick, Maintenance
"Working good so far! It helps to keep your mind
focused on a healthier life style."

Dale Turvey, Commissioner:
"Very good. Provided incentive. I've changed my
diet and I exercise more."

Carol Wildeman, Systems

"Nice to have a whole bunch of people involved;
makes you feel better to see that other
employees have the same interest ."

Mary Beth Beasley and Use-It-or-Lose-It
participants Jan Jakubiak, Harvey Hughes and
Harvey Greer, during their fitness appraisal.

—_<€£__7 2c

3
HOW YOUR SERVICE COULD
BE AT FAULT

Jim Clemmer
Globe & Mail, October '93

breakdowns come from organizational structures,
and only 15% from people in the trenches)

5° the line of sight to external customers
is blurred (many people in the company, not
dealing directly with the customers, often don't
understand - or care about - customer expecta-
tions and how their work ultimately helps or
hinders those expectations)

Says Harvard business school professor Rosabeth
Moss Kantor: "Despite the recent media corona-
tion of King Customer, many customers will re-
main commoner. Most businesses today say that
they serve customers. In reality, they serve them-
selves.

Most organizations only talk about treating cli-
ents better. Executives don't understand what
outstanding service looks like, and are not ready
to turn their organizations inside out to provide it.
They try to paint happy faces on their front-line become "passengers," “taxpayers, etc.," they be-
people or they bolt a service program on the side come less humane - service becomes less effec-
of their organization, rather than making it a part tive)

of their core strategy."

6° focus is on customer acquisition rather
then retention (recruiting new customers is a
higher investment priority than retaining old
customers)

7* customers aren't people (when customers

@ » article continues and lists

1e following major reasons why
only a few organizations have
managed to turn "rhetoric into
reality":

and HSR's Service ?

Are we making improvements?

Yes. e The Service Quality Team spent a
lot of time and energy investigating customer |
concerns and are setting up a demonstration
on the King, Barton and Beeline routes to
show how we can improve customer service.
¢ Our customer contacts investigation and
follow-up has been improved so that we have
better information on service problems and

Bus Beat asked Bill
O'Brien, Director of
Transportation Services,
to comment on Mr.
Clemmer's article and

how it relates to the
2¢ little or no customer HSR:
data (positive feedback is ac-

1° little or no segmenta-
tion Of markets and cus-
tomer groups (organization
tries to be everything to every-
body)

knowledged but negative data
is denied - no systematic con-
nection to customer expecta-
tions)

3° organization is man-
aged from the inside out
(customers are not involved as
partners in research and devel-
opment; "If customers don't like
our solutions, they have the
wrong problems")

¢ employees are treated
as source of service break-
downs (programs are aimed al
‘fixing the front line,’ however,
research shows 85% of service

This is a good article and the concerns are
valid. However, |am not as cynical as Profes-
sor Kantor. Progressive organizations are
becoming more concerned with providing
good customer service. They are not doing it
to be trendy - they are doing it to survive in
the very competitive environment we live in.
If we don't satisfy our customers' needs they
will go elsewhere. This applies to public
transit just as it does to manufacturing in-
dustries.

In 1993, the HSR received over 1400 com-
plaints from our customers. Also, in 1998,
our ridership dropped almost 6% from the
previous year. Clearly, our customers want
us Lo do better.

what our customers would like.
¢ There have been significant efforts in the
last couple of years to provide the front- line
employees with the best available training
and equipment to do their jobs.

All of these initiatives are helping to provide
better service to the customers. Obviously,
there is more to do and 1am confident we will
rise to the challenge.

As I continue to meet more and more of the
employees of the HSR, I remain impressed
with the professionalism and commitment
that most employees bring to their jobs. As
individuals and as a team, I see a dedication
to serving our customers that is "reality, nol
rhetoric".

S BE “AT ° M/ aie +H '94

HSR ENGINEERING DIVISION
- Automotive Mechanics

HSR mechanics working around the clock at MRTC and WSTC
are responsible for keeping our fleet safe and efficient. The
fleet consists of about 211 buses, 11 cars, 10 trucks, 5 vans,
and about 15 miscellaneous vehicles such as sweeper, trac-

tor and snowblower. As well as keeping up with the general
repair of these vehicles, our behind-the-scenes mechanics
conduct preventative maintenance inspections, ministry
safety inspections, and also handle all road calls.

Wentworth Street Transportation Centre

eo
Bill Brock Paul Chiarelli Kevin Clark Gary Fleming Dave Kirkham Paul Osborne Rick Toni
Apprentice Afternoons Afternoons Days Foreman Afternoons Days
Photos Unavailable:
Wilf Agnus Dave Chalmers Derick Jermy Tariq Lone
Nights Nights Nights Nights
Ted Balicki Scott Dalgetty Norbert Kemmler Biswas Ramessur
Afternoons Nights Days Days
Ron Belliveau Ewald Gollan Alex Kupi John Rice
Days Nights Nights Nights
Kerry Wood Bill Brach Lyle Jackson Robin Lambertus Mario Spinosa
WSTC-Afternoons Days Nights Nights Days

Mountain Regional Transportation Centre

Alex Czeto
Overhaul, Days

Phil Cicci
Days

Sid Day

Larry Erskine
Days

Paul Latham Enzo Lavia Bill Lupkoski
Days

Overhaul, Days Days Days

Bill Melia
Days

Chuck Smith
Days Apprentice

Kim Smith

Photos Unavailable:

Bhajan Birk
Nights

Daniel Erskine
Nights

Rob Fels
Nights

Peter Garrick
Days

Shawn. Harris
Nights

a Haggar
Days

Daljeet Juneja
Nights

Howard Lewis
Days

Mike Lipnicky
Days

William Marsh
Days

Doug Murray
Foreman

pally Slack
Nights

Andrew Smith
Days

William Stevenson
Nights

Cino Tedesco
Nights

Steve Townsend
Nights

ERVICE
ALITY

Continued from cover

Schedule adherence on the King, Barton, and
Beeline routes is being tabulated on a weekly
basis. The results are posted in the operators
lounge and near the cafeteria. Our goal is to
provide a consistent 90% (or better) level of on-
time performance to our customers.

The initial response to the On Street Service
Improvement Program (OSSIP) which was im-
plemented early in January 1994, is encouraging
- keep your submissions coming.

If you are aware of a service related problem,
or have a recommendation to improve the
quality of our service, fill out an OSSIP sub-
mission form (available at the dispatch office)
and send it to the Superintendent's office. Your

ubmission will be acknowledged, investigated,
@: forwarded to the OSSIP committee for
consideration.

Your participation in this important program will
help us improve our service.

John Caldwell/Jim Dorey, Service Quality Team

Customer Says...
Re Loy 2

é

HSR customer, "Joe" is generally pleased with
our service. "However," says Joe, "It could be
better if compared to Ottawa - that's where |

sed to live. Also, I think your female operators
@. doing a great job - | was surprised."

SS&A group take on more
claims and new team members

On January 3, 1994, Safety Service and Adjust-
ers combined their resources with the Region.
SS&A is now responsible for adjusting all claims
initiated through all departments of the Regional
Municipality of Hamilton-Wentworth and imple-
menting risk management programs for the Re-
gion. This includes selection and purchase of
insurance, accident investigation, loss prevei-
tion, and loss control techniques.

Welcome Aboard

As a result of this amalgamation - and certainly
a bonus for the HSR - Bob Zolaturiuk, Insurance
Coordinator and Lynne Brown, Claims Secre-
tary, from the Region's Finance Insurance sec-
tion have joined the SS&A department.
Welcome aboard Bob and Lynne!

Lynne Brown

Bob Zolaturiuk

What a wild winter!

And it ain't over yet...

A record breaking cold spell, along with several
notable snow storms, hit the Hamilton area dead-

on in early January, and does not appear to be
finished with us yet.

nn

The snow doesn't bother me so much," said HSR
operator Ron Wrigley, "It's the extreme cold that
got to me more than anything." Ron, who has
been driving for 10 years, says it's "the other guy
you've got to look out for" in severe weather
conditions.

During these recent winter tirades, HSK employ-
ees were superb! From operators to mechanics,
the information staff, ticket couriers... just every-
one, met the situation straight on and kept the
buses moving. Although we did receive com-
plaints (late buses, etc.), we also received tre-
mendous feedback from our customers, and the
community, about our committed service.

A wild winter? Hey, with the team work of our
service line, maintenance crew, and operations...
we don't have anything to worry about.

Bus Check
Hits Record
Number

All that snow and the
unrelenting, extremely cold
weather kept Bus Check "on
its toes" during the month of
January. In fact, on Friday,
January 7th, Bus Check
processed 13,989 calls - an
all-time record! Other
January Bus Check calls:

Thursday 13 9,945
Friday 14 10,468
Saturday 15 8,950
Sunday 16 1,333
Monday 17 10,577

Tuesday 18 10,352
Wednesday 19 10,429
Thursday 20 11,690

KAT * MARGH '9

IS@ our people please

"85 years
ago: Street
Railway
lMmployees
Union
planned to
seek an
increase in
waees of
two cents
an hour and
have the
compan)
pay half the
cost of
uniforms."

Memoriam

Muir, William Andrew
Sunday December 12,
1993 in his 77th year.
sill retired from the HSR
in December 1982 after
34 years of
service.

"On behalf of the Easter seals children and the
Rotary Club of Hamilton, thank you for your kind
contribution of a wheelchair accessible bus (CNG
If Bus) for our Christmas party on December 12.
The Rotary Club provides many programs and
services for children with disabilities through the
‘aster Seals Program. Due to your generosity,
we had many happy faces"
Aznive Mallett, Executive Director
Path Employment Services for the Disabled

".Thank you very much for the mini bus that

took some of our seniors shopping on December

9. It was a very nice gesture. The driver was the

best, and we enjoyed the trip (a lot of us don't get
very far) to the Centre."

Thanking you, from all of us,

Dorothy Peters, Hamilton

"".. After a few phone calls to HSR's Lost and
Found Department, | was able to retrieve my
purse (in less than 15 minutes)! I was so im-
pressed by the speed and competence with which
this incident was handled - also the very pleas-
ant, reassuring manner of the gentlemen (opera-
tor Bob Davie and Ticket Office employees)
involved. | want to thank them and let them know
how much | appreciated their understanding and
help."
Most sincerely,
Isabel Naucekivell

Other Employees
Commended

December '93 - January '94

Operators:
Pasquale Almonte, Bill Blair, Matthew Conry,
Frank Dougherty, John Paul Garner*, Mario
Giannini*, Rick Moran, Keith Ruck, John Sandor,
Bruce Snively(2)

*also mentioned in our last issue
Inspectors:
Joe Loosemore

Marketing & Customer Services
Jane Petrie

The following is a break down of various Opera-
tion Pal reports between the months of Decem-
ber, 1993 and January, 1994.

Vehicle Accidents 3
Person in Distress 4

Suspicious Person 2
Missing Person 2

Multi Media
Promotion
Picks up Ridership

HSR's advertising campaign, conducted between
during September 1 and December 12, 1994,
"was tremendously successful in generatin
awareness for the HSR." We received posit
feeedback from passengers, as well as employ-
ees, regarding the Employee Profile interior bus
cards which presented HSR staff as knowledge-
able and helpful professionals offering an impor-
tant and valuable community service.

During the four month campaign period, actual
ridership exceeded budget ridership by 203,888
trips, generating additional revenue for the sys-
tem.

CHML to Broadcast
HSR Service

To help notify HSR customers of possible service
delays, CHML Radio will be checking in with ,
control room twice each day. In case of a sno
storm or other traffic-related emergencies, the
Hamilton radio station will contact the HSR fre-
quently throughout the day to keep HSR passen-
gers informed.

ONGRATULATIONS

Pre Christmas Time Cheer...

'Twas the week before Christmas and all through event more than a few
the company... employees were celebrating the times, HSR's Ladies Night
festive season: finally took place at Shirley
Hannigan's house on Fri-
day February 4. The guest
appearance of Veronica
(Ronny) Mallon, added a special touch to the
evening.

Anniversaries

Communications Officer, Carole Morris-

McHugh, insisted that we broadcast news of her
Christine Symonyai, Lurch, Chris Campbell, 11th year of wedded bliss with husband Gerald.
Dan Arnott, Jim Dahms, Nick Pellegrino, Bob Official date of this earth-shattering event was
Hamilton and Paul Brown, celebrate the season —_- January 27, 1994.

~ their favourite mountain spot, and

Perfect Attendance PEOPLE >

Awards _ ON THE MOVE
: ; — | Paul Brown
Congratulations to all employees (Administra- Component Mechanic
tion 35, Maintenance 30, Operations 165) who | effective November, 1993

made the perfect attendance list for the quarter

‘ ( ae : Garv Famz
ending December 31, 1993. The winners of this ary Fama

Lubricator

rransit Attendance Award Program were: | affective December. 1008
Dorothy Cantrill, Prince Dauda and Steve Tyios |
- all from operations! Nick Pellegrino
Inf ion Cla. C With | i | Painter (revised)
‘Mat TK 0 AC B ns mm AV " * ffective . » f
Pe ice, Miley OWNS aroun The 1993 Yearly Perfect Attendance list showed —_|_ effective November 1993

with Santa's wig, and, 71 employees (Administration 22, Maintenance

: : P eRe : h ick Rinald
6, Operations 43) eligible for the $1000 draw to ee

HSR Ticket Agent

be held in April '94, during Team Week. effective November. 1993
The attendance list for 2 Days or Less showed Walter Scott
125 employees eligible for the $250 Team Day Service Line Worke1

Draw (Administration 14, Maintenance 24, Op- effective December, 1993

erations 87).

Kidney Car Program

The Kidney Car Program accepts any

eas, radiator, antifreeze, bat-
teries, transmission fluid, etc.,

?.. the Three Wise Women (Former CCL Ladies,

Julie, Marg and Sheila) meet for some holiday motor vehicle in any condition. In return, will be disposed of in an envi-
7 c c u ALC / ‘ GQ) . ; > ‘ > ¢ roo 1} > f
cheer at Alistair's place you get a free tow and an income tax receipt for ronmentally responsible way.

c d obec 4 c . a Pies — 7
And. although the weather cancelled the annual the auction selling price, or for the salvage value Call 1-800-565-5511 for
f we ¢ Bb )

of the vehicle. The program ensures that the oil, more information.

~~
ao)

DQ q } V
¢ BUS BE

AT « MARCH '94 °

Gord Heidman
Systems Department

You may have noticed a flurry of activity
over in the Marketing area in recent
days. We certainly have. Our friends in
Marketing have traded in their old ter-
minals and bought Personal Comput-
ers. (For you techies, most of the PC’s
are NEC 486/33MHZ with 210mb of
disk. A few special applications re-
quired the faster 66mhz boxes.) We
noticed because we had the joyous task
of setting them up and attaching them
to the network. Our own Jamie Dunlop
has developed a standard PC installa-
tion routine for the network gadgetry
and assorted software. It’s so good
that even | managed to setup and in-
stall a PC! We have installed several

Sports & Rec

Slo Pitch

WANTED: 15 Players to participate
on a mixed recreational Slo-Pitch
Team sponsored by the HSR Sports/
Rec Committee. All games will be
played on Sunday evening at 6:00
p.m. beginning May 15, 1994. Reg-
istration fee is $40.00 per person.
To obtain registration form (first
come basis) contact operator Gord
Winger, badge 595 or call 387-1608

Golf Tournament
Sunday June 5th, 1994 - Stay tuned
| for more info!

programs and utilities on the network.
This makes them centrally available
and easy to upgrade (once instead of 25
times for each PC). Drop by the Mar-
keting area - they'll be happy to show
off the new capabilities.

‘

Installation of the new “pizza box” sized
VAX’s is now complete. They’re teeny
but fast! Preliminary results show that
tasks formerly taking 15 minutes of
processing now finish in about 6. These
seem to be typical of the results you can
expect on alinost everything (ie. it takes
about 2/5 of the time it used to). As |
mentioned last time, the new equip-
ment is saving us about $1,000 per
month and takes up much less space.
Drop by for a quick tour!

In other news, work is well underway
on a new Customer Contact Database.
This is one of the many initiatives of the
Service Quality Team designed to im-
prove our responsiveness to our cus-
tomers. In January, Kevin published a
series of graphs (near the cafeteria)
showing on-time performance trends.

ee

Rosemary Wins
Weekend Get-Away

Rosemary Biro was the Grand
Prize Winner of Sports and Rec's
Valentine's Day draw. Second
place winners were:

Dan Arnott, Christine
Cowperthwaite, Paul Irwin, Dave
Kirkham, Mark Marangoni, Silvana
Melatti, Bob Pauhl, Gerry Roach,
Kon Walker and Richard Weichelt.

MYSTERY
PHOTO

Can you identify the photo below?

If so, call Rosanna at ext: 222.
All correct

answers will be
entered in our

HSR T-Shirt draw.
Contest closes

~ Maroh.31, 1994.

Mystery Photo
Unidentified

®

Tom McCaffery
Tom McCaffery was featured as the
Mystery Photo in Bus Beat's Winter
1993 edition. Tom started working
with CCL in 1972. He has been an HSR
Inspector since 1989.

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